


One Last Wish

by Northern Shiro (Northern_Shiro)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Characters may die after a long happy life, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, It doesn't undo Bellamy's death, Light Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, The 100 (TV) Season 7, Up to Episode s07 e13, Wishful Thinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26618611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Shiro/pseuds/Northern%20Shiro
Summary: A fix it of sorts as I haven't watched episode 13 of season 7, or any of the ones after it so I probably got a lot wrong but this made me feel better. Attitudes about what Clarke did might not be your ideal -- I err on the side of hope. (At least I like to think so.) Also, not beta'd so beware errors ahead.After Clarke ends up on earth with everyone else she makes a decision and the 100 swing into action for the last time. During her part of the plan she gets one thing she never thought she'd have but it's not a second chance.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	One Last Wish

Clarke stands and shuffles a step closer to the work bench Raven, Gabriel and Emori are huddled over.

They don’t need her looking over their shoulders. Her fingers clench and release. Behind her she can hear Niylah and Miller sorting through boxes, Hope and Jordan fussing with possible edible plants. She paces to the other side of the room and turns back. Everyone is busy – Jackson on medical supplies, Octavia and Murphy on weapons and Madi sleeping fitfully in the office.

Clarke reaches out to sort through the stuff on the shelf in front of her but ends up dropping something on the floor.

She can feel all eyes on her in the silence after the clang but doesn’t look up until they all go back to work, the soft sounds of sorting and chatting and doing fucking something filling up the space. When she looks up, she meets the concerned eyes of Murphy and Octavia.

Angry and painful but understanding eyes. Her hands clench into fists but it doesn’t help. Whether anyone else can see, she doesn’t know. Clarke hasn’t stopped shaking since...

They didn’t hold any forgiveness for her but no one drowned her in hate either. For once, maybe, the guilt and shame and brokenness she carries is visible. If Clarke could handle logical thinking, she sniffs and swipes a fist across her cheek, maybe that would explain why they had listened and agreed with The Plan.

The clank of stairs cut through the room and Madi walks directly over to Clarke and into her arms.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

Madi squeezes her harder. “It’s what you do.”

“For the love of – life, don’t be any more like me than you already are.” Clarke buries her face in her daughter’s hair and whispers hoarsely. “I can’t, I don’t know how to stop myself, to get better.”

“Will you try to come back to me?”

Clarke’s mouth opens to answer but she can’t. There are no promises she can make and keep anymore after shooting…

“Hey you two, it’s time,” Octavia interrupts, nudging Madi in the back before turning back to the team huddled behind her.

Raven, Murphy, Miller, Jackson, Niylah, Emori, Hope, Jordan, Gabriel and Echo stand waiting.

Clarke squeezes Madi close again to whisper. “I promise they’ll come back to you.”

Her girl glances at the group and nods with a sniffle. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

“Survivors are scattered across two planets, maybe three.”

“Skyring.” Octavia adds with nod at Clarke.

“Exactly.” Clarke thinks of Etherea and the possibility of people stuck there… “And to be honest, three is our limit taking into account unknown complications and time dilation. Raven, Echo and Miller are heading to Sanctum.”

Echo’s face remains blank as she ticks off their next steps on her fingers. “Make the offer, grab anything not nailed down – “

“I try to pull some help but I’m on the transport ship. Hopefully, help will grab up less portable tech and I program the hell out of a space ship.” Without looking toward Emori, Raven raises a hand for a high five.

Echo rolls her eyes at the two techies and continues – “then start hauling everyone willing to lay down arms and work for peace through the portal. Once Raven sends off the transport and ship, we come home. Back to Earth.”

Clarke almost smiles at Echo’s wistful tone. “Team Two?”

Jordan grins at Hope. “We hit Skyring and fast. Check for people” – he points to Echo – “try to grab the roses and clear out anything of value we find before heading back.”

“And?” Clarke raising an eyebrow at him.

This time the sarcastic eye roll comes from Hope. “We watch the timer – we need to be back first but provided we don’t spend twenty years stuck there I doubt that’ll be a problem.”

“Fine.” Clarke looks to Murphy, who glances over at Emori. “Team Cockroach?”

Murphy sighs. “We know the drill. Keep calm and prep for guests. Keep everyone arriving calm and prep for injuries. Don’t worry guys, we’ll leave the lights on for late arrivals.”

“Depending on time dilation,” Gabriel adds with a shrug.

“Yeah, yeah. Could take years.”

Murphy’s words make everyone quiet. Clarke watches Jackson reach out for Miller’s hand.

“Miller.”

“No, Clarke.” He shakes his head and squeezes Jackson’s hand. “It might be years but it’s the right thing to do. Cadogan’s on the warpath, he’ll get his last war any way he can at this point – we can’t do nothing.”

“Raven are you sure –“

Raven smirks. “Damn sure, once everyone we can save is through the bridge – input the two sequences I gave you. You have ten seconds to get home before the planet code is reprogramed and the stone shut down. Cadogan will be isolated on Bardo till he figures out the new ones.”

“Which he really isn’t any good at,” Gabriel adds.

“Okay, then let’s…” Clarke turns away

“Not so fast.” Murphy nudges her back. “Team Three?”

Octavia nods and starts their mission plan. “Clarke, Gabriel and I hit Bardo. We make the offer.”

“I plant the virus in their system, wipe out all and any data they have on the stones.” Gabriel grins. “Any chance we can just take it?”

“No.”

“Anyways, the old man plants the virus, we take whoever wants to go and head home.” Octavia finishes. “A really short mission but on the other hand, we are most likely to die.”

“The perfect superlative, if only we had yearbooks,” Murphy says with a grin.

“Ha. Ha.” Clarke ignores the two most difficult delinquents she has ever known. “Team one, then team two – we’re last. Let’s do this.”

A glance flicks between Murphy and Raven and Miller and Octavia. Clarke sighs. Without actual words being spoken everyone but the last of the hundred walk away to load up.

Madi turns to Clarke for their last hug. “Maybe they can talk some sense into you, but—“ she looks out past the doors and the new old world waiting – “I get it, kind of. May we meet again.”

“May we meet again,” Clarke whispers, watching her daughter walk away. One gulping breath later and well, fuck, the shaking hasn’t stop so she might as well get this done.

“You don’t have to do this,” Miller says before she can open her mouth.

Murphy nods. “As much as I hate to share being right, it’s true. Not quite sure you’re up to being Wanheda.”

Raven catches her hand. “It won’t be easy but you could stay here, with Madi and…”

“Stop.” Clarke doesn’t let go but this is what has to be. She reaches for Octavia and looks only at her for a moment. Whatever else Clarke sees in her eyes, understanding is still there.

“Redemption.”

“Beyond that,” Clarke replies with a deep breath. She owes it to him, so she stops shaking, stops the fear one last time to do what is right. “There’s a reason the head and the heart go together. One doesn’t work without the other. So, I’m going first to Bardo and I won’t be pretending anymore.” She looks calmly into Murphy’s eyes. “I am the Commander of Death.”

He’s blinking tears away. She looks around – they all are.

Slinging an arm around Octavia, she reaches out to Raven with their joined hands and cups her cheek with a smile. “We may meet again, but that doesn’t mean half as much as everything we’ve done, everything we’ve survived and everything we’ve forgiven before this.” She turns to Murphy and Miller, touching a hand on Miller’s cheek before pressing it over Murphy’s heart. “I love you all and am proud of all you have accomplished. Please take care of Madi, especially her heart. The mistakes, the triumphs – fuck, the fact that each of you keep going after it all is what gives me hope for humanity. I believe you’ll make this world better than the one we were born into.”

Murphy coughs. “You know there’s a chance you’ll survive this.”

The last of the hundred embrace.

* * *

Jordan turns before he’s completely enveloped by green light and waves. “Catch you on the flip side!”

Clarke raises an eye brow at Octavia.

“Definitely Diyosa, I mean he learned it from Hope but that’s totally Charmaine Slang,” she answers.

Gabriel finishes checking supplies and patting down his pockets. “It’s nice to hear really.”

Clarke steps up toward the stone. “Start the countdown.”

“On my mark.” Murphy holds a hand up and Emori starts inputting the symbols for Bardo. “Please remember while traveling to a hostile planet that if the inhabitants don’t kill you, the air will. Keep hands on your weapons at all times and your eyes sharp.”

Clarke clicks the safety off on her gun and eyes her companions. They look ready so she nods. “Primary mission is to destroy anomaly stone data, offering them asylum would be a bonus. May we meet again.”

Gabriel and Octavia return her nod and they all place the makeshift helmets on. When Murphy’s hand drops Clarke steps through the bridge into the stone room and wailing sirens. Bardoans in their white clothes and guards in their grays sit on the floor. Some wounded, some treating wounds but all with panicked eyes on the door. Not the bridge.

Jerking her helmet off, Clarke keeps her hand below her waist as she signals Gabriel to complete their primary mission. Octavia’s already on her knees next to one of the wounded. None of them care about the green light of the bridge and while it dies down Clarke listens to the announcement of sectors that are officially quarantined and locked down.

“Clarke,” Octavia hisses. “Whatever the last war is, it’s started but Cadogan ain’t winning.”

“Then why aren’t they stampeding through here on their way out?”

“Faith,” rasps a guard holding a cloth to her head. “Gen 9 is invading the bunker and some of us tried to evacuate but the faithful are barricading the way here. I thought – I thought – for all mankind but I don’t want to die. We just made it here.”

Clarke pulls the cloth from the guards head and examines the cut. “You fought your way here. You did good. Transcendence is kind of a personal choice and I know some more people, of mankind, who aren’t ready either.” She pushes the cloth back against the wound and stands, jerking her head at Octavia they go to stand with Gabriel. “I think we can do the bonus round. Gabriel can you get me into their announcement system.”

“How the hell are we clearing the blockade of faithful?” Octavia paces beside them. “We’re not going to kill—“

“No, I had Raven make me these.” Clarke opens the bag she’s carrying. “Knock out gas, Skyripa, you ready to clear the halls?”

“Skyripa?”

“Whatever.” Clarke shrugs. “Gabriel – start sending people through.”

“For all mankind,” he replies.

* * *

_“For those who wish to live. If you drop your weapons you are welcome to return with us to Earth. Life will not be easy, peace will not be easy and anyone looking for a fight can just stay the hell here. But if you truly believe in mankind, we’re clearing the way – make it to the stone room and you are welcome to join us.”_

* * *

Octavia went left and Clark went right. There were still four floors between them and the last gen 9 quarantined area. Each opportunity they had to bring people along they did as the faithful were sent to sleep.

Clarke had heard, briefly from Echo and Octavia and Hope about the medical area and the babies under glass. So it wasn’t a shock when the next door slid open to reveal them but it hurt all the same. Six babies in incubation she would not be able to save. Turning to go an outline of a door catches her eye. Standing right in front of it the wall appears to be solid but just trailing her finger tips over it she could feel the outline and with just a bit more pressure, there’s a pop and a hiss as a section of wall moves.

Somewhere behind her, she can hear Octavia calling her name. The speakers blare and there are now only three floors between them and the gen 9. In the room beyond the wall there’s more hissing and the whir of medical machinery breathing, pumping – keeping Bellamy Blake alive.

“I shot him in the heart.”

“Clarke!”

She takes another step into the room and through all the noise she can only think it was like a fairy tale. He lay calm and clean and asleep beneath the glass. Impossible, right?

“Clarke?”

She feels the wind at her back and Octavia comes up behind her.

“Oh my god, Bellamy.” Octavia runs to stand above the glass at her brother side and Clarke still can’t make it across the room. “Levitt! Levitt!”

Someone else brushes past her and still she can’t take her eyes off the man underneath the glass or utter a single word. The gun in her hand shakes.

“He’s alive!”

“Kind of.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means he’s alive in there.”

“That works, how do we take him with us?”

“Just let me look…”

“Just wake him up, get him out and we can go. We can bring him home.”

“We can’t.”

Clarke stumbles closer to the man in white Octavia keeps commanding. ”What do you mean we can’t?”

“Level Nine has been locked down. Level Nine has been locked down. Level Nine has been locked down.”

The man shakes his head and keeps flipping through the data pad in his hand. “One, there’s two floors between us and death, so literally we need to go to the stone room and leave, like now.”

“Not impossible Levitt,” Octavia pushes. “Make it happen.”

“Two, this isn’t just a life support chamber –it’s repairing a shattered heart, outside of the chamber he has nothing pumping blood, breathing, nothing. And it’s bolted to the floor.”

“No. No no no no.” Octavia leans on the glass. “In peace –“

“No.” Clarke stops the blessing. “Can he be awake? No pain?”

Levitt looks at Clarke then back to Octavia, he hesitates till the tears overflow down her cheeks. He hits a few buttons. “Yes.”

Clarke pulls Levitt back across the room and watches from there. Octavia’s hands and nose press to the glass as Bellamy’s lashes begin to flutter.

“Can the glass be opened?” She whispers.

“I suppose, but, again, pulling the connections between him and the support module will kill him and stop the healing. Even putting him on something portable won’t work because his heart will still be damaged beyond repair.”

“Got that.”

“We’ll kill him if we try to take him and the gen 9 will kill if he stays.”

“Catch-22, got that too. But can the glass be opened?”

“Yes.”

“Do it.” Clarke thinks about where they are currently, where the stone room is and how fast the infection is moving. “The stone doesn’t seem like the source for the last war – what the fuck happened?”

Levitt doesn’t look up from the data pad. “Cadogan.”

The glass swishes away and Octavia reaches for her brother.

“O?”

“I’m sorry, so sorry. I can’t,” she whispers to him and shakes her head. “I can’t save you Bell.”

“What’s happening? I thought –” His eyes flick behind her to Clarke and Levitt. “What’s going on?”

Levitt crosses to the siblings. “Cadogan is destroying the bunker – he’s can’t start the last war. Or judgement or whatever it is.” He glances back at Clarke. “And after Sanctum, the faithful are wondering why he’d want to start it in the first place. Life here was peaceful.”

The siren sounds again. “Level Eight has been locked down. Level Eight has been locked down–”

“So transcendence doesn’t exist?” Bellamy’s voice is hoarse and he swallows. “O, you gotta go. Get out.”

“I just—I love you big brother, I’m sorry for hurting you and I’m sorry I let you down by becoming a mon—”

He shakes his head. “It’s okay. I love you, Octavia and all I want is for you to be happy and safe and to know some peace in this world.”

Leaning down she begins whispering. “In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next.” She stops there and kisses his forehead gently. “May we meet again.” Without looking back she walks to the door. “Levitt can you, can you put him back to sleep?”

“No,” Clarke says and pushes a piece of paper into her hand. “This is the code, the one Cadogan wants – use it to get free if you need to or leave it behind if you want. Tell Gabriel to input the codes and go home.” She steps further into the hidden room and looks back at Octavia studying the paper in her hand.

The younger woman nods slowly and signals Levitt to go ahead before she says a final goodbye. “ _Yu gonplei ste odon_.”

The door swishes closed between them.

* * *

Maybe this is the wrong choice but Clarke had made it before they left Earth. It would be easier to hide what this actually is if she had died when they first exited the bridge. Without looking up from the floor she moves further into the room. One more step closer to the glass coffin.

“You should go, too.”

Without thinking too much, she lets her eyes dart around the room. Noting the clean and spare lines of the room as well as the clench of his jaw.

“Clarke, do you need to hear me say it?”

She manages to shuffle another step closer. Her breath coming in short shallow gasps. At this point they are way past forgiveness.

It’s his bitter chuckle that grabs her attention. “You were right to shoot me this time I guess.”

“No, I wasn’t.” She rushes closer to look down into his wet eyes. “Can I?” Her head tilts forward.

“Clarke, you need to go.” He shakes his head in confusion. “Madi needs you and I’m, I’m already dead.”

“No.” She grasps his arm tightly. “Can I lay down with you?”

He shifts slightly. It could be to make space or a yes or a no and this time she needs actual words.

“I shot you – I think to protect Madi but maybe just to make you stop breaking my heart with your new blind faith and either way, that was wrong and this, this is our end. So you have to say actual words now.”

“And if I say no?”

It’s her turn to laugh bitterly. “Then I’ll tell you how sorry I am one more time and I’ll go die on the other side of this door because we both ended what ‘together’ meant.”

Bellamy nods. “There isn’t much space but yes –” and lifts his arm up.

The gun clatters to the floor and she starts to climb up next to him. He watches her questioningly when she peels the leather jacket from her shoulders before settling at his side. “Might as well be comfortable – I figure that’s why you took to the white robes.”

He snorts. “That’s not even funny.”

“Neither were the robes.” Clarke inches closer and lays her head down on his shoulder. The siren blares again and they are back in the place they always end up. No time for everything they need or want to say. “I wish I hadn’t shot you.”

“Clarke, can we just –”

“No.” She shakes her head and tips her head up while her free hand pulls his head down. “We never say anything we need to or mean to and this is it Bellamy. We’re dead and I’m going to say every word I can before the end.”

He nods and keeps his eyes steady on hers even as his breath catches.

“I’m sorry I shot you and sometimes I almost understand it but at the same time I don’t.”

“Mama bear,” he whispers. “After that time at the bunker, you had to make it a kill shot.”

“Neither of us gives up easily when we believe.”

Bellamy’s lips quirk up a bit. “Bad habit.”

She nods. “Not good for building a new world.”

“Is that why you’re giving up?”

“No.” One last deep breath. “I can’t live with killing you when I, when I – for so long, it’s always been about surviving or the next disaster or everyone else so what, what I really want and need and hope and dream hasn’t ever mattered. Not as much as” – she closes her eyes and opens them to stare intensely into his – “And timing. Never ready or ready too late or dead or whatever.”

“Clarke?”

“Bellamy Blake I love you.” The words are a few notches down from a shout. “Have loved you, been in love with you for a very long time and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt for anyone else.” Her hand falls over his heart which will never be whole again and it’s all her fault. “But I’m not any good at it, not when it ends with me killing you.”

He’s so quiet.

“I wish I understood everything that got you to where you were. I wish you could understand, really understand everything that got me to where I was but I don’t even get why the hell I did it really. But this last week – it broke me and I’m tired of fighting through it.” She settled her head back down on his shoulder. “So yeah, I planned to die here and leave the new world to Madi, our friends and their children. For some fucking weird reason, fate’s giving me one thing I have always wanted – to be with you and to say the words.”

With a heavy sigh, Clarke wraps her arms around his chest and closes her eyes. “I will always love you, Bellamy Blake.”

“ALL LEVELS ARE INFECTED. ALL LEVELS ARE INFECTED. ALL LEVELS ARE INFECT—“

The sirens stop and the silence is absolute. Clarke breaths out and waits for the end to come.

His arms, strong and sure once again, wrap around her and pull her close. “Look at me.” He shakes her when she shakes her head no. “Clarke Griffin – princess, look at me.”

Choking back a sob she shakes her head but opens her eyes. So many tears, she didn’t want to make him cry anymore but there are so many sliding down his cheeks creased by a smile. “Stop that –“she reaches a hand to wipe the tears away.

“I love you, too.” He lifts a hand to wipe away the ones on her cheeks. They are laying in each other’s arms and smiling when the light engulfs them.

And then nothing.

_Sixty Years Later_

“Why the fuck did I get old?” Murphy shakes his head as he creaks his way upright.

It wasn’t absolutely certain but the first of the new settlers to die had been buried at the original dropship. Best guess really. A bit far from the Outpost but on the anniversary of Emori death, and often Raven’s as well, he goes visit and catch her up on the latest news. He was shocked at the pain when they died after such long, happy, and peaceful time. Apparently living through daily disasters and multiple ends of the world hadn’t prepared him for it.

The grandchildren and the great grandchildren took up where Emori left off. Giving him shit and making life just fucking worth every bit of the pain it took to get there and every friend he’d lost.

“Need a lift?” Madi’s voice cut across the woods.

“What do you need hobbit?” He sneers happily. “My wisdom always goes right over your old lady head.”

“I’m not as old as you and that’s all that matters.”

“Yeah, well we’ve both been put out to pasture.” Murphy lets her help him into the first rover Raven had cobbled together years ago while working out her grief.

Madi grunts and swings around to the driver’s side. “Something’s coming.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” He leans back and holds onto the bar as she bounces them out of the woods. “Hurricane? Earthquake? Wave of nuclear radiation?”

“A ship.”

He grunts and runs numbers. “There’s another 15 years –“

“Nope.” She spins the wheel around one corner and then another. “I mean, maybe it’s like rivers, harder when you go against the current.”

“Just tell me it’s the Eligius transport we were expecting and not some new idiots with delusions and guns.” Murphy sighs and stares blankly at the passing greenery. It’s too soon and now, instead of stories – cautionary tales – his children, grandchildren would have to deal with strangers landing on their Earth. “We’re too old for –“

“First scouts to see it, said it looked exactly like the sketches and specs Raven gave us, so they waited for it to land but something happened. They’re calling us up.” Madi squints at him. “So no one gives a good god damn if you’re too old to deal with shit.”

“You know, for not being genetically related to Clarke, you sure are annoying.”

“Strangely enough, annoying isn’t an isolated personality trait of only the Griffins.”

“Tell your daughter that.”

“Jac called all of us – Jordan, Hope, Miller and you and me.”

Murphy thinks about all the possibilities as the rover speeds its way to what had once been Eden, the valley that had once been Clarke and Madi’s home.

* * *

Madi flings her arm out to catch Murphy when the rover skids to a stop, hood to hood with another of their vehicles. Hope and Miller slouch against it while Jordan waves his arms about, telling Jac, her daughter, some story or other. She catches Murphy’s eyes and rolls hers.

“That boy just doesn’t change.”

The slamming of the rover doors gets their attention and the two slouchers straighten up as they circle the wagons.

Jac lets out a breath. “So.”

“The Eligius transport ship is back early.” Jordan bursts out. Hope presses a hand over his mouth and gives him a look.

“Yeah,” Jac sighs. “Thing is instead of us having to use Raven’s codes to open the doors – they opened themselves and according to the scouts two people came out and sat down on the ramp.”

“That’s it?” Hope shakes her head. “Why call us?”

The current leader of the Outpost doesn’t vibrate with the decisiveness which landed her the job but seems filled with a great deal of uncertainty.

“Aliens?” Miller askes hopefully, holding out a fist for Jordan to bump. Madi rolls her eyes when they complete the small ritual.

“Jaci Griffin just spit it out.”

Madi glares at Murphy then reaches out for her daughter’s hand. “Honey, just tell us what the problem is.”

“The scouts said they think they might know who they are” – Jac shrugs and points up the hill – “But it’s just – you guys would actually, you know, know…”

Murphy snorts and puts his hands in his pockets to start trekking up the hill overlooking the valley and, they assume, the ship. “Let’s do this.”

Jordan happily follows while Hope and Miller trail behind. Madi pats Jac’s shoulder before heading out as well.

“They’ll see you from up there!” She calls out in warning, letting them go.

* * *

This damn hill is not meant to be climbed by eighty some years old people. Murphy glares back at Jordan when he finally stands at the top – damn kid still moves like he actually is a kid still. Jordan just smiles wider and stands next to him.

Fucking Greens, Murphy thinks as he turns to look at the ship and gets the breath knocked out of his body.

The blond sitting on the ramp tilts her head to the side and waves.

Murphy grabs Jordan’s arm as he falls down on one knee. Miller and Hope rush up to help him and he tries to stutter out some kind of response but then the man next to the blond waves as well. Even when Madi reaches the top none of them pay any attention to the ship below instead they worry over Murphy’s old ass.

His very old ass compared to…

“You. Fucking. Assholes.” He yells down to Clarke and Bellamy. She laughs at him, a sound he barely ever heard before and just shrugs. The others finally look and Miller joins Murphy on the ground as Jordan whoops loudly.

Madi, seventy some years old herself – fuck why doesn’t he ever remember it exactly – runs down the hill and into Clarke’s arms.

Jordan pulls Murphy up and Hope get Miller. “Shall we?” she asks.

The men nod and make their way down to the transport ship and their previously dead friends.

“We had a damn memorial service for you losers.”

“Shut up Murphy,” they both respond.

“Well now I’m sure we aren’t dealing with body snatchers,” Miller quips.

“Or clones!” Jordan calls.

Murphy shakes his head. “Nah, a couple of cockroaches just like the rest of us.”

There are a lot more questions and of course, Jordan has a lot to say.

So much noise. Everyone talking over Jordan while Clarke holds onto Madi and Bellamy holds onto Clarke’s hand. They attempt to walk and talk but if she moves too far away from Madi or Bellamy then she’s pulled to an abrupt stop.

Bellamy tugs her back and entwines their fingers for, like, the hundredth time and Murphy smirks but it occurs to him that none of their questions are actually getting answered. It’s all head shakes, smirks and eyebrows in response.

“Listen, it may have taken like two hundred years or something and it’s not that I’m not happy for you two but could you just explain what the hell happened?”

Clarke and Bellamy exchange a look and shrug.

“So fucking unhelpful,” Murphy grunts and turns his back on them to return to the rover. He can hear the others following, quiet now.

“Is –“Bellamy coughs and swallows uneasily. “Are you guys the only delinquents left?”

“Oh fuck.” Madi starts rushing up the hill. “We should probably go to Octavia’s now.”

* * *

New people, new family to meet and traveling and old people needing naps meant they weren’t all together again till about sunset. The last of the 100 and their three honorary members – Madi, Jordan and Hope – gather on Octavia’s porch.

“An accident?”

“Seriously Bell, you have got to let this go.” Octavia rolls her eyes at her brother from her chair. “I’m fine and strangely enough me losing use of my legs is not nearly as mysterious as two dead people coming back to life.”

“I just –“

“Bell. Spill before Murphy gets cranky and needs another nap.”

“Fuck you, O.”

“You wish Murphy.” She flashes her middle finger at him. “I just want to know exactly how I became your much older sister.”

Clarke sighs. Standing at the bottom of the steps she can see the entire settlement, the Outpost, spread out over a valley. Homes, fields, school, mill and machine shop. It is everything they had ever dreamed of when they first came to the ground. She glances over her shoulder at Bellamy. He pats the floor in front of him.

She sits down and lets him pull her closer and hold her, crossing her arms over his.

“Who had ‘after they died’ in the Clarke and Bellamy pool? Murphy you need to return whatever you won for ‘never’.” Miller quips and starts an argument.

Leaning her head back against his shoulder, she smiles at her friends’ arguments.

“Shut up both of you. I just want to know what happened.” Octavia waves a hand through the air. “I left you two in a sealed chamber in a bunker being decimated by gen 9 or whatever. So start there.”

“Well –“

“No, not there,” she interrupts with a crafty smile. Octavia points a finger at Clarke. “How did you have that damn code?”

The arms around her don’t let go when Clarke tries to stand. “No luck, princess. You can tell them from right here.”

Sighing, she gives up and snuggles back into him. “I always had it.”

Several shouted epitaphs later, Clarke explains.

“The assumption was that the Flame held the code or the ability to figure out the code. Which is possible true but not till after Becca figured it out. It really is just a data bank and processing chip.”

“Just?” Madi’s incredulity interrupts.

“Yeah. I mean as it stored more identities it became more complicated but it never gave anyone super hearing or senses – just faster reaction times, more knowledge. So it wasn’t the Flame, but Becca, the stone must of called out to her.”

“Fine, what was it about you and her that called the mystic creators of the stones to—“

“That’s just it.” Clarke turns to Murphy. “The stones are tools, there isn’t a higher power, or beings coming to judge anyone or a last war or whatever. They are a piece of technology that helps – transport, communicate, other stuff maybe – they’re powered by the black hole on Skyring and the Anomaly on Sanctum. Still tools, to help foster life – or communication.”

“Are you telling me the stones had a bet in the Bellamy and Clarke pool?”

Clarke giggled at that causing them all to stare. Not Bellamy. He is finally familiar with all her laughs. “No Miller. They aren’t there to save you from ruining your own world. The original Bardoans didn’t lose the last war so much as ruined their own damn planet and then tried to run from it.”

“Like us?”

She nods at Jordan. “Yeah. Think of the stones as tools, to help” – she looks over her shoulder to smile at Bellamy – “heal.”

“That’s why you, and Becca.” Murphy rocks back and forth glancing over at Clarke then away. “It could tell that you were…”

“Broken.” Clarke smiles wide. “Very, very broken. I heard a soft hum the first time I was in the stone room on Sanctum but I didn’t put it together till Earth after – after I …”

“After you killed me.”

She breathes out and closes her eyes. “Yeah. Broken past repair at that point.”

“Suicidal.” Bellamy’s arms tighten around her. “You all should have –“

“Nope. Nope nope nope.” Murphy says in a sing-song manner. “Not a one of us can make that woman do anything. We tried – it’s like getting you to back down when you believe you’re right.”

Bellamy salutes him. “Fair point.”

“Anyways. Whether you left the code or gave it to him, the code got entered and since there was actually someone to heal…I think it scooped us up.” Sliding around, she faces Bellamy. “I don’t know what happened really. There was peace and warmth and light. It felt endless and then it was like a movie of my life and it hurt and was awful and wonderful and when I was finally ready to die with you in Bardo.”

“And then,” Bellamy prompted.

“Fuck,” Murphy says, hiding a sniffle. “There’s a then.”

“Oh yeah.” Bellamy leans forward and places a soft kiss on Clarke’s lips. “Then you watched my life.”

Shaking her head, she returns his kiss.

“You’re telling me, you both relived your lives” – Octavia waves a hand when Clarke tries to explain – “Sort of. And then each other’s.”

“Think of it like the ultimate session of therapy.” Clarke rests her forehead against his.

“And that’s it?”

“I don’t know how or how long but then I was waking up in cryo on the Eligius IV.”

Bellamy finishes it. “With six year till our arrival on Earth.”

“What did you do for the next six years?” Jordan askes with a heartfelt sigh.

Miller grins. “Whatever the hell you wanted.”

Bellamy ignores that. “A story for another time. Now, I hope – well I guess I figure it’s okay that we’re here?”

Octavia looks to Miller who turns to Murphy with a raised brow.

“Idiots.” Murphy drops his head to the side and offers his hand to two people he’d missed for sixty some years.

“Welcome Home.”


End file.
